


Stuck in the Maze

by LibbyWeasley



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Academy Era, F/M, First Kiss, Mutual Pining, corn maze
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-15
Updated: 2019-10-15
Packaged: 2020-12-16 22:03:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,925
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21043502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LibbyWeasley/pseuds/LibbyWeasley
Summary: Fitz and Jemma go to a corn maze, but their competitive spirits get the best of them. Maybe they’ll find a way out together. Academy era.





	Stuck in the Maze

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Zuziuchna](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zuziuchna/gifts).

> This was written for @aosficnet2 Promptober day 15 - corn maze. Prompted by the lovely Zuza.
> 
> A big thank you to @agentofship and @blancasplayground for helping plan this fic. But none of us have ever been in a corn maze so apologies if this isn’t what happens in one :)

Fitz had been looking forward to this moment for months. Ever since Simmons had insisted that she was an expert at mazes he had been working on a way to get through the corn maze faster than her. Maybe it wasn’t a good plan, probably a bit immature and ultimately destined to fail, but showing her he was better at things than she was was basically his only way of acting on his ridiculous crush on her. His ridiculous, one-sided crush that would probably ruin their friendship if she ever found out about it. So he let his competitive spirit run free around her. It may be childish, but if they were constantly bickering it kept his mind busy and would hopefully distract her from realizing what truly drove his desire to be close to her. 

“You ready, Simmons?”

“Of course, Fitz.” She rolled her eyes at him in that way that was so bloody distracting. “It’s a corn maze, not rocket science. And I told you, we used to go to maize mazes all the at home. I have an excellent sense of direction.”

She slipped her hand into her jacket pocket and for a second Fitz wondered if she was cold. He would be more than happy to warm her up. She always said he was like a furnace. That’s why she always sat so close to him when they watched movies together. He could picture them walking through the maze hand in hand, or maybe he could put his arm around her. But he pushed that thought away. That wasn’t the kind of relationship they had and there was no point in imagining things that would never happen. Not with the way she’d been spending her free time with Milton of all people. 

“Right, right, right. Cool. So I guess we should…” He gestured towards the entrance to the maze and she stepped in front of him, taking the path to the right the moment the maze opened up in front of them. The corn stalks were too tall and too thick to see through. Not that he thought they wouldn’t be. So he took the path to the left. He was distracted by the way she looked, her hips swaying slightly as she walked away from him. Luckily, he had a technological plan for getting through this maze so the fact that his blood was rushing south at the moment wouldn’t be a problem. Probably. 

Reaching into his pocket he pulled out the small screen and entered the code that would summon his miniature drone. This was a perfect test of the technology he’d been working on. The drone was small enough to hopefully go unnoticed and, if it worked the way it had so far in his testing, it would quickly map the area, allowing him to get through the maze before Jemma. 

Choosing his path through the maze at random, Fitz waited for the scan to appear on his readout screen.

* * *

Jemma felt terribly guilty for lying to Fitz. But once the lie had been told she couldn’t exactly take it back. He had been so excited about the corn maze and she couldn’t let him down. Hopefully she’d be able to find her way out at some point and not be trapped in here forever waiting for some corn maze employee to come rescue her. Picking a path at random, she focused on moving as quickly through the maze as she could. 

Fitz looked so very handsome this evening, the slight stubble on his cheeks doing things to her she hadn't anticipated. It had been a difficult year, with her slowly coming to the realization that the fact she wanted to spend all of her time with him had just as much to do with they way their minds worked together as the way she imagined their bodies might work together. But now was not the time to think about that. 

She pulled the small box from her pocket and examined the screen. So far she had mapped part of the maze. That should keep her from backtracking down a path she’d already explored. If she’d been able to ask Fitz for his help she was certain he’d have come up with something much better. But she’d been stuck with Milton, and she was pretty sure _he’d_ only helped because he thought she’d be willing to go out with him. But having just tried to work with him, she now knew she’d be bored within 10 minutes on a date. 

The maze was full of running kids and couples moving at a much more leisurely pace, but Jemma kept up a purposeful walk, determined to get through the maze before Fitz did. After a few more minutes of walking she entered a slightly open area. The middle of the maze perhaps? There were six different paths leading from this point and she took a moment to think. Nothing for it except to just pick one. She moved towards her right, but as she was turning that way Fitz came into the clearing. Not that path then. 

“I got here first,” she said with a smile. Well, this was good luck. He hadn’t made it any further than she had. It looked like they were well-matched after all. Or, at least they were well-matched after taking the device she had hastily shoved back into her pocket into consideration. 

He looked slightly flustered, but responded, “Doesn’t matter who gets here first, only who gets to the end first.”

* * *

They had gone their separate ways and she hadn’t even seemed to notice his discomfort as he kept one hand behind his back to shield the device from her. She wouldn’t be impressed if she found out he was using technology for this. 

Once she had disappeared between the rows of corn and he was certain she was well out of sight, Fitz examined the data the drone was sending. It was only partially complete, which was disappointing since he thought it would work faster. Maybe he still needed to make some upgrades. It would have been a lot easier if he could have talked to Jemma about this. 

He followed the path, picking a direction without much thought every time he reached a point where the path diverged. Eventually he reached that same clearing again. 

“Bloody hell,” he muttered. This wasn’t how this was supposed to go. He was supposed to dazzle her, not get trapped in the bloody maze. Picking another path, he tried again, only to be frustrated minutes later when he ended up in the clearing again. 

He smacked the side of the screen, hoping that would clear things up. But all it did was cause an ache on his palm. Hopefully he wouldn’t get a bruise. Fitz studied the readout and realized it wasn’t his drone that wasn’t working. It almost looked like there was some sort of interference… But who else would be using a SHIELD channel?

Jemma stumbled into the clearing again, looking at something in her hand, and all of the sudden everything became clear. 

“Simmons!” he greeted her. “Imagine running into you here. Do you come here often?”

She grimaced and tried to shove the device back into her pocket, but for once he was quicker. 

“Fitz, no!”

“What do we have here? Ah, some sort of mapping technology.” He shook his head. “I’m really disappointed in you, Simmons.”

She tried to snatch it from his hand, but he used his height to hold it just out of her reach. 

“Is this what you were working with Milton on? No wonder it doesn’t do anything except interfere with my signal.”

Jemma had one hand on his shoulder to pull him down to her as she stood on tiptoe, but she froze at his words and let her hands rest on his chest instead. 

“_Your_ signal?”

Her hands on him were very distracting. “Well, yeah, I was just using my drone to map the maze.”

A group of children ran past them, one of them knocking into Jemma with a hasty apology, and Fitz reached for her waist to steady her. 

“Why were you doing that?” she asked, her tongue darting out to wet her lips. 

He was too distracted by how close she was to do anything other than tell the truth. “Wanted to impress you. Why were you using that?”

“I didn’t want you to think I wasn’t good at mazes,” she said quietly. 

“But, Jemma...that doesn’t even make any sense!”

“Ugh, Fitz. Just forget it.”

His mind backtracked over his words and he belatedly realized he’d used her first name. He normally only did that in his head, but it just slipped out. 

“So, ah, what now?” He knew he should let her go, but the way she was looking at him was so confusing. 

“Now? Maybe we should…” 

Her eyelids dropped closed and she stepped closer, sliding her hands up to his shoulders and tipping her head back. She looked so kissable. But he wasn’t sure what to do. Did she want him to kiss her?

Apparently he had waited too long to decide what to do because she took a step back, looking embarrassed. 

“Sorry. I’m not sure what I was thinking. I didn’t —“

“Jemma,” he cut her off. This felt too important not to say something. “I want to kiss you. I’m just not sure that’s what you want and I don’t want to muck it up.”

“What did it look like I wanted?” she asked, sounding curious. 

“It looked like maybe you wanted me to, but you didn’t say, so I wasn’t sure. And I need to be sure because —“

His words were cut off by Jemma wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling his lips to hers. She tasted sweet and perfect. They moved together as if they had done this countless times before instead of this being their first kiss. Hopefully the first of many more kisses to come. 

He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer, feeling her smile against his lips. Just as he was starting to wonder if he was supposed to do more, her lips left his. He felt bereft for a moment, but then she settled her head against his shoulder, her breath tickling his neck. 

“So that was a yes?” he asked, happiness spreading through every inch of his body. 

“Of course that was a yes. I kissed you, didn’t I?”

He turned his head to kiss her hair. If this was something they did now, he wanted to make sure he experienced it all before she changed her mind.

“So what should we do next?”

“Head back to the dorm and watch a movie?” she suggested. 

“Simmons, we are still stuck in the middle of this bloody maze. Do you know how to get out?”

“No.” She sighed and snuggled closer, like she didn’t exactly mind being trapped there with him. 

“I think without the interference from that...thing, my drone should be able to finish the map fairly quickly so we can get out of here.”

She reached for the device and switched it off before tucking it back into her pocket. 

“It might take a few minutes,” he added. 

“That’s alright. I can think of something we can do to pass the time.” 

She tilted her head back and this time Fitz kissed her without another thought. 

He really liked corn mazes after all. Maybe they could make this a new tradition.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed it!


End file.
